Dry City Vanished in Snowburst

"Tu Tu... Grandma Dean, she... she..." Lin Pangpang had no idea how to explain it to the child before him.

As he spoke, Lin Pangpang seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon and collapsed limply to the ground, tears finally surging uncontrollably from his eyes.

Even though the dean had told him more than once while she was alive that she did not have long to live, helping him prepare himself time and again—

When it truly came to pass, all that preparation collapsed in an instant.

Along with it collapsed Lin Pangpang's heart, strong on the outside yet fragile within.

At that moment, his whole world turned utterly dark, darker even than the night.

"Enough! Tu Tu! Grandma Dean is already dead! You know what death means, don't you? Aren't you sad? Where are your tears? Do you even have a heart?!"

Lin Pangpang's suppressed emotions erupted in an instant. No longer caring that Tu Tu was just a child, his words grew harsher and harsher until he finally roared.

"Brother Pangpang? You're yelling at me? I... I... want to cry, but I have no tears... Really. And Grandma isn't dead. She's just cold. Warming her up will make her better. Warm her up..."

"Warm my ass! Shut the fuck up! If you hadn't insisted on coming here to watch the fight, Grandma Dean wouldn't have died!"

"Pangpang, are you crazy?! Why are you saying that to a child?!" Qin Ming could not stand it anymore.

Just then, Su Wuming leaped up from the rift and landed on the broken bridge opposite them. He gripped the fractured edge, gathering strength to spring across.

He had heard Lin Pangpang's roar, though not clearly.

But he knew something had happened over there. In the end, he had been one step too late to stop the Snowwhite Thunder Bear's Frost Breath, and all he could feel was regret.

Then, just as he launched himself forward, his expression changed drastically.

"Pangpang, get out of the way!!!!!"

But the warning came too late. It was exactly when Lin Pangpang had just finished roaring at Tu Tu.

Tu Tu's body suddenly began to writhe strangely, while his throat turned an intense red, as though something was about to emerge.

The next moment, Tu Tu abruptly opened his mouth, and a massive amount of lava-like liquid poured out.

Then Tu Tu let out a demonic roar and snarled viciously at Lin Pangpang.

"I told you, Grandma is cold! Warming her up will make her better!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, blood-red lava erupted from Tu Tu's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Then his entire body completely transformed into lava.

Strangely, the dean, who had remained in the posture of holding him, was not melted by the scorching lava. It was as though some force had isolated her from it.

Immediately afterward, demonic markings began appearing across Tu Tu's face, and a pair of dark crimson horns rapidly grew from both sides of his forehead.

At that moment, Su Wuming flew over. In midair, he grabbed the terrified Lin Pangpang and hurled him into the distance. When he caught sight of the dean frozen into an ice sculpture from the corner of his eye, his eyes immediately reddened and his heart skipped a beat.

In that instant, Tu Tu suddenly opened his mouth wide and spewed a huge amount of lava at the ground. The hard earth instantly melted into a massive pit that spread outward in all directions.

Gradually, dense, spiderweb-like runes formed around the pit—strange and impossible to decipher.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, the runes emitted a blinding blood-red glow that shone upon the other orphanage children who had been frozen into ice sculptures.

"It's a Demon-type Awakening! Quick! Kill him!!!" A stationed officer atop the barrier wall recognized the change in Tu Tu.

That was a nightmare of a term, one that had not appeared in many years.

"Who dares!!!"

Su Wuming did not care whether Tu Tu was a demon or not. He immediately moved to stop them.

But a row of soldiers within the barrier had already unleashed their long-range techniques, flying past Su Wuming and striking Tu Tu.

Explosions immediately rang out all around them, sending lava splattering everywhere. Some landed on an ordinary person near the front, instantly burning a hole through his skin. Then his entire body burst into flames, and no matter how he struggled, he could not put them out.

"Fuck you all! Die!!!"

Su Wuming was completely enraged. He used his remaining Armament Haki to protect his fists and unleashed a furious barrage against the barrier.

But how could he possibly shatter it? It was no more than an ant trying to shake a tree.

"Die!!!!"

Suddenly, Tu Tu's demonic voice rang out behind him. Su Wuming immediately stopped attacking the barrier and whipped around.

He saw Tu Tu rise from the runes completely unharmed, then open his mouth and fire a pillar of lava at the officer inside the barrier.

What happened next shocked everyone. The supposedly indestructible barrier, capable of blocking Golden Rank demon beasts, was melted through by the lava pillar in a single exchange.

The officer on the city wall was reduced to ash with the confident expression still on his face. The soldiers beside him suffered the same fate, while an entire section of the wall was burned away.

At that point, Tu Tu stopped spewing lava, and his face turned extremely weak.

Before Su Wuming could step forward and try speaking to him, the runes suddenly blazed brightly. In the blink of an eye, their radiance reached its peak. The next second, it instantly contracted and vanished, taking Tu Tu, the dean, and the bodies of those children with it.

"Where did he go?" A Spirit Martial Practitioner who had recovered from the shock asked subconsciously.

"Hell!" Unexpectedly, someone answered him. The reply came in a cool female voice.

"Instructor Mo Lan!" Su Wuming recognized the newcomer and called out, both excited and despondent.

"Mhm. You did well."

"No! I don't want 'well.' I want perfect! If... if I had been faster, the dean and the others wouldn't have died. If only..."

All night, Su Wuming had actually been forcing himself to hold on, striving to do better.

Now that he had seen a true powerhouse, his emotions burst forth all at once. There had been several times when he had wanted to give up, but the people he cared about had made him grit his teeth and persist again and again.

And now, seeing a true savior, he suddenly felt that he could finally stop. He was truly exhausted. He wanted to sleep.

Maybe after sleeping, he would forget everything. Murmuring words no one could understand, he suddenly collapsed.

The duration of the Opening Gate had long since ended. Every battle before this had pushed him beyond his limits. When he blocked that Thunderous Roar, he had already been on the verge of collapse. He might not conduct electricity, but he still could not withstand the waves of thunderous force battering him.

Dragging the Snowwhite Thunder Bear into the abyss beneath the rift had already been the utmost limit of his limits.

At this moment, Su Wuming had truly fallen asleep. More accurately, he had fainted.

Mo Lan used telekinesis to catch him and covered his ears before warning everyone.

"Turn around quickly and cover your ears."

Though confused, everyone obediently did as she said. The next instant, a deafening explosive boom echoed through the heavens. Even with their ears covered, they could hear it clearly, and the ground trembled violently.

Behind them, the city that had not been particularly prosperous was completely swallowed by the snow filling the sky with that single explosion, leaving not a trace behind.

This was the art belonging solely to the Snow Spirit—Snowburst.